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Alberu Crossman was used to living in an empty palace. There were servants, there were workers, knights, record keepers and mages, yet ultimately it was empty.
He was surrounded by undercover dark elves risking everything to help him, his aunt giving him unconditional love and support yet he still felt alone.
He wanted to make the future a better place but did not think himself worthy of existing in it. He learned and trained and did everything in his power to live up to the title of ‘crown prince’ and be better than everyone around him. After all, if he himself is not needed he just had to make his skills indispensable and earn his right to exist through them.
He fought silently to prove his worth, he fought loudly to give people a place worth living in, a kingdom they'd proudly call their home. A place they would thank him for.
And so he trained, he schemed, he learned, he made choices and judged people depending on how useful they were to his plans.
He smiled, he waved, he cheered, he kept his cards close to his chest and didn't let anyone get too near.
If they were to find out about his origins, everything he'd ever worked towards would become unreachable. If they were to see past his carefully crafted image, they would find there's nothing to look at.
He held onto the necklace hanging from his neck like a lifeline and felt its weight push on him like a reminder of soft smiles and heavy truths.
He didn't bother with fantasies of a ‘home’, he didn't think there was a place he could confidently say he was ‘welcome’ and where he ‘truly belonged’. He needed to survive, he was willing to live in a lie his whole life for it.
And then, he met Cale Henituse.
Cale Henituse, a bastard, an unstoppable force of nature, a smart yet stupid man, a schemer like him, a business partner, one of his greatest supporters, a cherished person, a friend, Kim Rok Soo, his dongsaeng.
He crashed into his life unexpectedly and Alberu refused to let go.
He had seen past Alberu's lies and knows his true origins. He had learned about his curse and still trusted him to rule the kingdom in the future, still supported him with all he had to offer.
Alberu held on and found himself surrounded by more and more people by his side. From mages to dragons, from children who seeked him out to people older than his great grandfather. They gave him headaches, they gave him more work than ever, they drove him nuts.
They showed him he was meant to be here.
‘He was meant to be here’, how funny is that. Fighting all his life to earn the right to exist and they say ‘his existence is natural’, that it wasn't all for nothing, he deserved to exist, he was meant to do so.
Alberu Crossman used to not consider himself deserving of a home, a place he'd be welcome. He didn't think he could ever walk around in his true form and he didn't think he would have family, close family he could call himself part of.
Then, he did. He did and he does.
He has people who are genuinely happy to see him, people who he fought side by side with, people who he can trust, people who care.
In his youth the same palace halls he now walks through felt empty without his mother's presence. It felt devoid of colour. Each day was a constant battle of survival, looking out for poison, assassins, his brothers, his father.
He learned not to trust others when he was young and he managed to unlearn it in his twenties. He now had a support system to get him through things, it was no longer just him and his aunt.
Alberu opened the doors to his bedroom. He used the room more as an office rather than its intended purpose. It also served as his usual meeting location with some (un)welcomed trespassers that managed to convince the palace cooks the crown prince has a sweet tooth.
As he stepped through the entry and closed the doors, he was immediately greeted by chaos.
“What did you guys do this time?” He sighed after taking everything in and stepping forward.
“Raon-nim, Hong-nim, Ohn-nim.”
“Cookie crown prince!!”
“Hello, nya!”
“It’s almost night, don't shout so loud, nya.”
“It's okay, I already set up a silencing barrier!”
“Still-” Alberu tooned out the rest of the conversation between the children. He sat down across the couch his dear dongsaeng was occupying with his instructor-nim standing behind.
“Cale, Choi han.”
He greeted the two of them. Choi han smiled back while Cale Henituse immediately started up his bullshiting.
“You are the ever shining star in the hearts of the kingdom's citizens, your highness. Even at this hour you sh-”
“Stop.” He brushed a hand down his face. Really, these people can be a lot sometimes.
“What do you want?”
“You really know me best, your highness.”
“Hyung.”
“You really know me best, hyung.”
Alberu put forward the jar of cookies he keeps in here for visits like this. It's for the children and the man child sitting across from him.
“Ooo cookies!!” It didn't take long for it to be noticed. He smiled a bit at their lit up faces.
“So, what is your business here, my dear dongsaeng?”
“Can this dear dongsaeng not visit just for the sake of seeing his hyung’s handsome face?”
Alberu raised an eyebrow at that and glanced at all the people around. It was nearing night yet the three children were here as well as Choi han and Cale who reached for a cookie before turning to Alberu with a semi serious look on his face.
“Hyung. Tomorrow at this time, come to the Super Rock Villa.”
“The Super Rock Villa? You could have just asked me in a call. Is there a reason you needed to tell me in person?”
Cale just put on his signature scammer smile but refused to elaborate.
“Haa. What are you planning now?” The way Cale lived one can never know.
“You need to be there, nya!”
“That's right, crown prince.”
He turned to smile at the children.
“Is that so…” He looked back at the two adults a bit questioningly.
Choi han was suspiciously quiet.
“...”
Clap
“Anyway, it's about time to head back. It's getting dark.”
“Human is right, it's almost bedtime!” The little dragon said while stuffing some cookies into his spatial pocket bag.
“It’s important to sleep well, nya.” Added on Ohn.
“Yeah, nya!” Hong had some cookie crumbs on his face. Alberu reached out to wipe them away.
After they were ready, the suspiciously acting surprise visitors all gathered together on a black magic circle.
“See you there, hyung.” Said Cale, his eyes crinkled.
“See you, crown prince!!”
“Bye-bye, nya!”
“Have a nice night, nya.”
“Sleep and rest well, your highness.” Choi han was the last person to say goodbye as they all teleported away.
Alberu was left alone in his bedroom. The room was quiet in their absence. He reached for one of the cookies as he put away the jar to a safe place. He then stood up and walked to his desk to finish some paperwork.
As he turned on the light, he heard a patterned knock on his door. It was his aunt, Tasha.
“Aunt Tasha.” He said, a bit surprised, letting her in.
She put her hands on her hips, seeing his lights on with paperwork out. Sizing him up from head to toe, it was obvious he was not planning on sleeping anytime soon.
“Nephew, dear, my dear nephew, it's night already.”
“It's still pretty early? I've stayed up way past this time not just once before. You know that, aunt. Besides, I need to finish these soon.”
“... sigh Yeah, no.”
“What?” Tasha already started pushing him towards the bed by his back. He could have resisted more but didn't want to go against his aunt without good reason.
“Aunt…”
“You're going to bed!”
“Aunt Tasha, what's gotten into you?” He was already pushed all the way to a place he could rest.
“I know you stay up all the time and don't listen when I tell you to rest but listen to this,” - Alberu looked at his aunt confusedly -” there's a group of certain individuals who came up to me today to make sure you rest well since tomorrow you have things to attend-”
“I have things to attend to every day.”
“Not the point, dear. If not for anything else, for your image, please go to sleep. If you won't, I'll know. No need for dark eyebags.”
“Huuu.” Alberu released a long sigh.
“Cale Henituse put you up to this, didn't he.”
“Yes he did. And so did a little dragon, two cats and also a swordmaster. Sigh, Alberu, I'm not doing this just because they asked me to. I just want you to be able to rest more.”
Alberu reached out to his aunt.
“I know, aunt. Thank you. I'll just finish some up and go to sleep, alright?”
Tasha looked at him hard for a while before reaching out to ruffle his hair.
“Hey.”
“I know, I know. Sleep well then”- she started to leave the room-”and do sleep. They're people who are waiting for you.” She called out as she left.
“I will. Good night, aunt.”
“Good night.”
Alberu was once again left alone in the room. He belatedly wondered if he should be vary of whatever nonsense his dongsaeng was up to but it's not like he won't know by this time the next day.
As he started to look through the papers on his desk, he noticed a little note he didn't see before. On it there was a small message obviously written in a certain red head's handwriting.
Dress comfortable
‘Dress comfortably?’ He supposed it had something to do with whatever activity the other had planned.
No necklace
Rest well
“...”
He looked out the window leading to the night. Some years ago he would have never imagined he'd be in the situations he often found himself in nowadays.
It was… different from what he was used to in the past. It was one thing some people were aware of his quarter dark elf form but it was a completely different thing knowing they didn't only accept it but would prefer to see him like that.
It made him chuckle lightly.
He used to not bother with fantasies of a ‘home’. It was a concept he was unfamiliar with for a long time but after a couple recent years he found he could finally say that, yes, there's somewhere he truly belonged, where he could just exist and was welcome to stay.
Home was not really a place for him. It was the visits, calls, banter, smiles… it was making sure he rests, it was caring and wanting him there with them.
Alberu Crossman was used to living in an empty palace but thinking of all the people that made it a point to come around, he found it wasn't so empty after all. It finally felt like home.